


Agreement

by Vox (Meislovely)



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Monster Hunter AU, there's some blood and fighting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-22
Updated: 2017-07-22
Packaged: 2018-12-05 15:07:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11580570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meislovely/pseuds/Vox
Summary: “Who’s going to stop me?” She huffed, rolling her eyes.There was that headache Jasper was waiting for. “I’m legally obligated to stop you. This is a felony.”Before Jasper could blink, the sword was back out of it’s sheathe and pointing towards her. The woman’s glare had come back full force. “You can try.”(Jasper and Pearl come to an agreement)





	Agreement

**Author's Note:**

  * For [moonwatcher13](https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonwatcher13/gifts).



Jasper let out a frustrated grunt as a branch thwacked her across the face, reaching a hand out to shove it out of her way. She was usually at home in the forest, but the walk back to town was long, and felt longer with empty hands and an empty stomach.

Hunting monsters wasn’t easy, but she was good at it and it paid alright. At least, it would if she could find any of the damn monsters she was supposed to be hunting. For the last month and a half, they’d been ridiculously scarce. It wasn’t that there weren’t contracts, there were plenty of those. She took the contracts and tracked the monsters, but they just _weren’t there_. The tracks would lead her far from the city and then just… disappear. Occasionally, there’d be traces of the viscous green ichor that they bled, but no body. With no body, there was no evidence. With no evidence, Jasper didn’t get paid.

Making this month’s rent had been slim, but she managed to keep her small apartment on the edge of town by doing a few last-minute odd jobs. Jasper didn’t think she’d be so lucky next month, but refused to dwell on the possibility.

Walking through the shopping district at dinner time was a special brand of torture with an empty wallet. The bright, neon lights hurt her tired eyes and the smell of cooking meats and vegetables tied her growling stomach into painful knots. Jasper’s teeth clenched, but she kept walking until she made it to her apartment.

She unstrapped the pack from her thigh along with her toolbelt and hung them next to the door, the small crossbow slung across her back coming off next. Finally, she pulled off her silver plated gloves with care, setting them on a shelf made just for them. She would usually polish them and make sure their circuits were working correctly, but they hadn’t seen any action lately.

Feeling a lot lighter without all her gear weighing her down, she shuffled into the kitchen. It wasn’t made for someone as big as her, but she made do with what she had. Unfortunately, what she had was a can of peas in the back of her cupboard.

She grumbled, weighing her options, and closed the cupboard. If Jasper was going to get anything done tomorrow, she’d need to save it for the morning. With a sigh, she made her way to her bedroom.

When morning came, she hardly took the time to eat her meager can of peas before marching down to the contracting office. There was only one new job, but it had come in just before she got there. Hopefully, if she got to it fast enough, she could find it before whatever -or whoever- kept taking her marks stole it.

Jasper regretted it as soon as she realized that it was in the middle of a swamp, but she was too stubborn -and _hungry_ \- to go back. Her nose wrinkled at the smell of the stagnant water and decay, the bugs irritating her even further. Though, there was one good thing about swamps: it was easy to track anything that set foot in them.

The hoof prints made a trail straight to the beasts, and when Jasper finally spotted the black mass of fur, a hot flash of excitement tangled with immense relief in her chest. The monsters took different shapes every time, depending on what animal they possessed. Sometimes they even mixed, or came out bigger- those were worth more money, but were always more dangerous. These were just three, pitch black horses, covered in shaggy fur and a bit on the small side. The contract stated that they’d been attacking fishers in this area, even managing to trample one of them.

She silently knelt behind a tree that had snapped halfway up the trunk, keeping her eyes glued to them as she pulled the crossbow off her back. Taking a deep breath, Jasper carefully aimed and-

The sharp hiss of steel filled her ears before a figured blurred in front of her crossbow. A splash of neon green ichor arced across the ground. Jasper let out a startled noise, yanking the crossbow up fast enough for the bolt to fly skywards. The blur didn’t stop, shifting towards the second beast and separating it’s head from it’s body. The third finally broke out of it’s shock, letting out a choked growl and turning to run. It didn’t get far.

Finally, the figure stilled. It was a woman, lithe and tall with ruffled peach hair and a short green shawl draped around her narrow shoulders, just a few shades lighter than the ichor staining the rapier lowering to her side.

“What are you doing!?” Jasper found herself snarling before thinking.

The woman froze for a moment. Then, slowly, her head turned towards Jasper. Fierce blue eyes locked onto her and Jasper nearly flinched at the look, but held her ground.

“I killed them.” She said, voice clear and smooth.

Jasper’s eyes widened for a moment. This was the one. This was the person taking her marks and ruining her hunts. Her eyes narrowed and she rose from her crouch. “ _Why_ did you kill them?” She growled, “I had the contract on them- and on a lot of monsters in this territory! I have the permit for this area.”

Jasper took a deep breath, running a frustrated hand through her wild mane. The woman simply glared, not making a move towards her, but not sheathing her sword.

“The boars in the forest, The eagles, the snake, the _jellyfish_ \- they were all you, weren’t they?”

“I killed the snake and the jellyfish, but I don’t know anything about the others.”

Jasper sighed heavily, fighting the urge to rub her temples. She could feel a headache coming on and her stomach could use a lot more than a few peas. “Then who else is hunting here?”

“I don’t know. You’re the first person I’ve seen out here besides myself.” The stranger shrugged, finally flicking the ichor off her sword and sheathing it before stalking towards the fallen beasts. “Either way, it’s not my problem.”

“ _You_ need to stop too.” Jasper growled, “It’s against the law to hunt without a permit.”

“Who’s going to stop me?” She huffed, rolling her eyes.

There was that headache Jasper was waiting for. “I’m legally obligated to stop you. This is a felony.”

Before Jasper could blink, the sword was back out of it’s sheathe and pointing towards her. The woman’s glare had come back full force. “You can try.”

Jasper opened her mouth, but before she could get a single word out, the blade was whistling towards her face. She jerked her head out of the way, only for feet to plant into her stomach and push her back.

Jasper forgot everything she was going to say, mind clearing as she rolled backwards. Her feet dug into the ground and she pushed off before her momentum stopped, starting to sweat as the blade swiped inches from her neck.

She fumbled with the inside of her wrists, finding the switch on her gloves and turning them on in time to block another swing coming down on her head. The impact wasn’t as hard as she feared, but the sound of steel on silver made her wince. Silver was a relatively soft metal -she was going to have to fix them after this- but she didn’t pick it for it’s hardness.

She grabbed the blunt side of the blade, keeping the woman still enough to launch a fist into her stomach. The electrical current building in the glove drew a sharp yelp from the woman as she was thrown backwards. Unfortunately, she managed to keep a grip on her sword, taking it with her.

Jasper advanced on her, but she was fast. She was up and stable enough to dodge another of Jasper’s punches. She woman blurred right. Jasper tried to guard, but jolted when the blow hit her left thigh. A feint. She wasn’t fighting a monster. People were much smarter.

She struck out, letting out a curse as the woman spun away from her fist and retaliated with a flurry of blows, half of which opened up another series of stinging cuts on Jasper’s body. It took all she had to just to protect her vital organs.

Jasper knew she wasn’t nearly as fast, but if she could just get a few more good hits in the fight would end a lot more quickly. She felt almost sad at that thought. She hadn’t had this much fire in her veins in years.

The thought left as abruptly as it came when she saw a small opening. Jasper struck out and managed to bat the sword out of her hand and back a few yards. Blue eyes widened, but Jasper quickly closed the distance. Her head came down hard on the woman’s face, followed by a jab to the chest and a swift kick in the abdomen that had her joining her sword in the mud.

Jasper bent over for a moment, breath wheezing as she kept a critical eye on the stranger. To Jasper’s surprise -and maybe a little awe- she hauled herself to her feet swiping a hand sloppily under her crooked nose, only serving to smear the blue blood over her fa- Jasper’s eyes widened.

“You’re a witch?” She wheezed,eyes locked on the blue stains. No wonder she was so fast, and _durable_. Anyone else would be down for the count.

The woman grimaced, glancing at her sword. “Well, I suppose there’s no use hiding it.” She muttered. Jasper’s eyes widened further as she pressed a hand to her head, pulling it away with a long, sharp spear in her grasp. That _had_ to be cheating.

The woman squared her shoulders, pointing the spear at Jasper. Jasper tensed, getting ready for the next whirlwind of attacks, but a sharp _crack_ caught her attention and she looked up in time to jump back.

A tree groaned and fell between them, snapped halfway up the trunk. Jasper let out a frustrated growl. What else could possibly be trying to kill her right now!? Her blood boiled as she whipped around -and froze.

More arms than Jasper had the thought to count gripped at the ground as the monster pulled itself out of the bog, mud sloughing off the inky black flesh. It rose to a towering twenty feet, large humanoid head swinging about before it’s cold green eyes locked onto them.

That… wasn’t supposed to be here. Most monsters took the bodies of animals -the more powerful beasts could take the bodies of humans- but Jasper hadn’t ever seen something like _this_ before. Looking at it made her gut twist until she felt more nauseous than hungry. This wasn’t right.

“I think that might be what killed the other monsters you mentioned.” The woman said, mouth open as she stared up at the abomination.

“Yeah, no shit.” Jasper growled, ignoring the rapid pounding of her heart. “Truce?”

“Truce.” The woman agreed quickly.

The monster didn’t give them anymore time to plan, launching towards Jasper in a lurching crawl. If she thought it was bad to look at when it stared at them, it was downright _frightening_ when it moved. She held back a scream, backpedaling and rolling to the side when a massive hand swung towards her.

Flashes of blue light on the other side of it drew the monster’s attention and Jasper took the time to increase the amperage on her gloves. The charge would run out a lot faster, but anything lower would be nothing to something that big. She figured she had five charges before they went dead. Better use them wisely.

With that in mind she ran forward, planting a fist into the monster’s side -back? She couldn’t quite tell- suddenly glad her stomach was empty as it’s flesh rippled and moved against the electricity. It let out an ear piercing shriek and shuddered away from her. The woman leapt up from the other side, landing on it’s back and bringing her spear down in a few vicious arcs before it gave a violent shake, sending her skidding down the side.

Jasper’s heart lurched as her feet shot her towards the woman, plucking her out of the air before she could hit the ground and  bolting behind the monster, trying to stay out of it’s line of sight as much as possible. Green blood oozed from where the woman had slashed at it, but the area around Jasper’s blow showed no damage aside from a small, sickly looking dent.

She set the lithe woman on her feet, keeping her eyes trained on the monster. “I’ll distract it, you do as much damage as you can. Do you think you can get it’s eyes.”

“Yes.”

“Good, aim for those and it’s neck if you can.” It may be unnatural and unsettling, but even monsters could bleed to death.

“Right.”

She ran to the side as Jasper stood her ground, watching it scuttle jerkily until it faced her. Refusing to let it have the first swing again, she ran forward and let another punch loose where one of it’s arms connected to the body. This time, it didn’t shrink away with a scream, but let out a low growl. Jasper’s blood ran cold as a large hand rose and batted her away before she could retreat.

She was only in the air for a second before a tree brought her to a painful stop. The air _whooshed_ out of her and she clutched at her chest, trying to get her lungs to work again. The monster shuddered towards her, but stopped with a screech as the stranger shoved her spear in one of it’s eyes. It brought up a hand to crush her, but she leapt over it, leaving her spear in it’s bleeding eye to land neatly on the ground.

Another spear was summoned and she pointed it towards the flailing beast, the tip glowing blue for a moment before a bolt of light shot into it’s other eye. Jasper’s eyes nearly fell out of her head as she stared.

“You can shoot lazers?” She gasped when air finally decided it was time to fill her lungs.

The woman glanced back at her, more smug than any ruler Jasper had ever seen. “Magic.”

The beast roared, scuttling towards the sound of the stranger’s voice, blunt teeth bared. She flitted off, leaving the monster charging at Jasper.

Jasper scrambled to her feet, bringing her hands up in a guard out of habit. Her heart pounded anxiously, but something caught her eye. The monster hadn’t slowed at all, but the limb she’d punched was dragging limply behind the rest. A wide grin split her face.

Feeling a lot more confident, she rolled out of the way of it’s blind charge, pivoting on her foot to launch another punch into one of the back arms. It buckled and the monster’s body leaned precariously towards the side.

It tried to turn, but she darted under it punching up into one- two more joints. It scrambled backwards pushing her over with one of it’s hands. Luckily, it didn’t move in for another strike, leaving her to pick herself up off the ground and back away.

It reared up, flailing it’s remaining arms. Jasper watched, waiting for it to tire out and leave an opening.

“Hey-” Jasper jolted as the woman appeared beside her, almost throwing a punch in surprise. She had retrieved her sword and was staring at the monster with narrow, calculating eyes. “Throw me.”

“What?”

“Throw me at it.”

Jasper stared at her, eyebrows knit together. She knew that she was strong (her bicep was nearly the size of this woman’s waist), but she doubted she could throw her far enough to do anything useful.

The woman looked up at her, giving her a small smile. “Just trust me.”

Jasper had her doubt, but nodded, arms reaching to lift her. Instead, the woman hopped up into her hand, light as a feather. Jasper’s eyes widened for what felt like the thousandth time that day. “Wha-”

“Magic”

Jasper pushed down her shock to deal with later, swallowing hard. “Where am I aiming?”

“It’s neck.” She said, eyes narrowed.

Jasper grinned and, before she could hesitate, reared her arm back and hurled the woman at the monster.

Her aim wasn’t perfect, but the woman didn’t seem to find fault with it. She flew through the air like one of her crossbow bolts. Jasper worried that she had missed for a moment, but those fears were swiftly put to rest. As the woman passed a glint of steel flashed out to the side, catching the monster at the throat and slicing it’s jugular with terrifying accuracy.

It’s limbs slowed to a stop, going slack as the body froze, then toppled over with an earth shaking _thud_. Jasper stared. She’d been doing a lot of that today. How they’d done that without dying eluded her.

Behind the corpse, Jasper saw the stranger’s slight body stagger upright and a wide grin split her face. She rushed over, disregarding the fact that mud and ichor covered them almost entirely and scooped her into a breathless, hysteric hug. “That was _amazing_!”

The woman let out a startled squawk wincing as some of the blood got into her eyes. Jasper put her down immediately, heat building in her cheeks. “Sorry.”

“It’s-um, okay.” The woman said, looking a bit confused and out of sorts.

Jasper wanted to say more, but she wasn’t sure what. It didn’t help that every ache and injury was suddenly making themselves known. She was sure that a few of her ribs were bruised and cracked, and tears in her clothes marked cuts that slowly oozed blood. Not to mention the tearing _hunger_.

The woman looked up at her, mouth moving, but Jasper couldn’t hear a word over the oppressive ringing in her ears. Her limbs went numb and darkness crowded at the edges of her vision, creeping inwards until nothing was left.

Some time later, the crackling of a fire reached her. She was warm and laying on something ridiculously soft, the smell of a fireplace and fresh cooked meat lulling her into relaxation. It felt almost like she was back home with her mother, but... that wasn’t right. Jasper had been on her own for years. She was almost scared to breath. She hadn’t had a dream this nice in some time, and she didn’t want to ruin it… until her stomach let out a painful growl.

“Fuck.” She groaned, clutching at her abdomen. Moving her arms brought on another series of aches and another groan.

“You’re up.”

Jasper’s eyes flew open and she made an effort to sit up, only to let out a hiss of pain and flop back down. Her eyes darted around the room quickly, taking in as many details as she could and trying not to let panic cloud her head.

She was lying on a dark red couch in front of a fireplace. The room was almost as big as her whole apartment with pale blue walls and a wooden floor. The woman stood in front of the couch, gazing down at her with a plate in her hand. She looked a lot cleaner and a lot less bruised than she had. Her nose -that was bent at nearly a right angle the last she saw- was the most glaring difference.

“Do you need help?” She asked, eyebrows knit together.

Jasper let out a grunt, frowning for a moment. She didn’t think her muscles had the strength, but she was uncomfortable asking for help. Well, there was no use in keeping the weakness to herself. If this woman wanted to kill her, she could’ve done it already. “Yes.”

She set the plate down, splaying long fingers behind Jasper’s shoulders and giving a mighty push. Well, it may have seemed mighty to the woman, but hardly lifted Jasper. It was enough for her to kick her sore muscles into gear and sit up, but left her to wonder how she’d brought Jasper here in the first place.

Oh, yeah. Magic.

The woman smiled, as if congratulating herself on a job well-done, and handed the plate over to Jasper. A large slab of meat took up most of it, surrounded by cooked, wild vegetables. Her mouth watered and she barely spared a “Thank you,” before attacking it like it had insulted her mother.

The woman left her to her food, waiting a few minutes before clearing her throat and pressing her hands together. “I apologize for not introducing myself sooner. My name is Pearl. And you are…?”

“Jasper.” She managed between bites.

“I see.” She said, pausing for a moment before continuing, “Excuse me if it seems obvious, but you’re a monster hunter, aren’t you?”

Jasper gave her a nod, noting the twitch and fidget of her hands.

“What are their policies on witches?”

Jasper stopped, fork halfway to her mouth. Pearl didn’t seem very aggressive at the moment, but she couldn’t help remembering how quickly she’d become hostile earlier. She chose her words carefully.

“It varies between different hunters. Some consider them monsters and others let them be.”

Pearl’s eyes narrowed and Jasper licked her lips nervously. “And for you?”

Jasper shrugged. “Well, I haven’t heard news of you terrorizing anyone - _except me_ \- so there’s no bounty on you…”

Pearl’s shoulders relaxed, but Jasper continued cautiously, “But it’s still against the law to hunt here without a permit.”

Pearl rolled her eyes, folding her arms. “Honestly, I’m doing the town a favor.” She huffed, “I get what I need and the town is safer. Who could this possibly be harming?”

“Well, _me_ . I haven’t been able to fulfill any contracts, so I don’t even have enough money for food.” Jasper growled. Pearl opened her mouth, but she went on, no longer caring if Pearl decided to stab her. She had been stressed and angry over this for over a month, and she’d be damned if she let Pearl just- just blow it off like it was nothing. “Not only that, but if anyone catches wind of someone hunting here without a license, they’ll send feds down here. Which will not only be a problem for me, but also for you. _Mostly_ for you, the ones closer to the top tend to have a more negative outlook on witches.”

Pearl was silent for a long moment, eyes squeezed shut and fingers pinching the bridge of her nose in distress. Jasper suddenly didn’t feel much like eating, despite her still growling stomach. Finally, Pearl heaved a sigh, looking considerably more tired than she did a few minutes ago.

“Alright, I’ll find somewhere else to settle down.”

Jasper’s heart gave a pitiful squeeze and she frowned. “What?”

“I can’t have federal agents knocking down my door and… it wouldn’t feel right to starve you. Your stomach growled all the way here.” She murmured.

Jasper felt an embarrassed heat fill her cheeks, frown deepening. She hadn’t quite thought about Pearl leaving. She assumed the woman would just _stop_ , she didn’t intend to chase her off. She fought well against the abomination, coming up with things on the fly and working together. It was a damn shame.

Her eyes widened, “Wait, I have an idea.”

Pearl raised an eyebrow, motioning for her to go on.

“Why don’t we just work together?” Even as the words left her mouth, half of her hastily putting a plan together while the other half screamed and demanded to know what in the world she was doing. She chose to ignore the latter.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you’re obviously no slouch in a fight.” Jasper pointed out, “If we work together, not only will we take care of them faster, but we’ll be prepared if another one of those… things appear. We kill the monster, you take what you need, I take what I need, and nobody’s the wiser.”

A smile slowly spread across Pearl’s face, eyes shining. “Well, I find that quite agreeable.”

Jasper hauled herself to her feet, finding a lot of her strength returned with something in her stomach, and held out her hand. “Partners?”

Pearl took it, shaking firmly, “Partners.”


End file.
